


We Stick Together (Like Glue)

by lachatblanche



Series: The Last of the Genius Billionaire Philanthropist Playboys [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 04:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachatblanche/pseuds/lachatblanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Charles attend at a fundraiser. Separately.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Stick Together (Like Glue)

Charles took a sip of his drink, hiding a smile as he watched Tony flirt with a very pretty girl (with, incidentally, an unnaturally large chest) from across the room. His lips twitched as he saw Tony gesticulate wildly, clearly impassioned, and he stifled a laugh as he tried to imagine what it was that he was saying.

It was probably something about the size of his fortune, Charles reasoned, sending out gentle telepathic feelers and allowing his mind to curl around Tony’s. Or about the size of his intellect. Or – 

Oh. _Well._ He was certainly talking about the size of _something_.

Biting his lip to keep from laughing, Charles took another sip of his drink and raised an eyebrow.

_Exaggerating somewhat, aren’t we?_ he asked innocently, his words sliding smoothly across Tony’s mind like watered silk.

Tony was far too used to having Charles’s presence in his head to do anything more than blink at the intrusion, but it nevertheless took a huge internal struggle to keep him from protesting against the (vile, malicious and _completely_ false) accusation.

_Hey now!_ he said reproachfully, smiling broadly at the woman in front of him as if in hopes that she would be too blinded to realise that he suddenly wasn’t paying her any attention whatsoever, _If anything, I was being **modest**. **You** of all people should know that._

Charles grinned. _I don’t know,_ he murmured, feigning thoughtfulness, _I think I may have forgotten. It **has** been a while, after all._

_Two hours,_ came the flat reply, although Charles could tell that Tony was valiantly trying to suppress the amused glee that was leaking out around his words. _That was two hours ago, Charles, give me a chance to recover, huh?_

_Is that what you’re doing?_ Charles allowed his eyes to once again skim across the revealing cut of the girl’s dress and was unable to quell the small internal twist of disapproval that unexpectedly blossomed inside him.

_Why?_ came the lightning-quick reply. _You jealous?_

Charles immediately let out a loud and disdainful snort.

_Hardly,_ he smirked, taking another sip of his drink. _The newest addition to the Tony Stark fan club – and no, Tony, I am **not** the president of that club, however much you wish it was true – isn’t quite the wide-eyed ingénue that you think she is._ He allowed the corner of his mouth to pull up in a dry smile. _Although I’m not too sure you’re all that bothered about that, to be honest._

_Far be it for me to discriminate,_ came Tony’s cheerful drawl. _Now buzz off, sweetheart, some of us are trying to be sociable._

_Is that what they’re calling it these days?_ Charles murmured, laughing lightly, and obligingly began to recede from Tony’s mind, but not without first leaving him with a gentle nudge of _Good luck_.

Not, of course, that Tony would need it.

Draining the last of his gin and tonic, Charles lowered the glass in his hand and slowly made his way over to the bar. He wasn’t overly-fond of these sorts of fundraisers that he, as the Xavier scion, was forced to frequent, but he took great comfort in the fact that Tony – who hated these dull, pretentious parties even more than he did – was also made to attend.

_Oh the woes of being young, rich, and in Society,_ he thought with a dramatic sigh.

He was just holding up a hand to call the bartender over for another drink when there was the sound of a throat being cleared at his side. Charles blinked and looked up.

‘Hi,’ it was a young man with wavy dark hair and warm brown eyes. ‘Can I join you?’

Charles smiled and indicated that he could.

The man smiled back at him, warm and genuine. ‘I needed to get out of there,’ he said with a confiding smile, jerking his head minutely over to the crowd in the ballroom. ‘There’s only so much insincerity a man can take.’

‘I know how you feel,’ Charles said in a similar tone of confidence, his eyes twinkling. ‘That’s why I usually spend ten minutes doing the rounds at these things before I retreat to the safety of the open bar.’ He gave the man a self-deprecating smile. ‘I find that it helps keep things … mellow.’

The man grinned at that. His eyes then drifted almost unconsciously up and down Charles’s frame before he abruptly managed to check himself and avert his eyes. ‘So,’ he said after a moment, his voice casual even as the tips of his ears turned pink, ‘Do you come to these things often?’

‘Unfortunately for me,’ Charles answered with a put-upon sigh, pretending not to notice the direction of the man’s thoughts. He allowed his eyes to drift wistfully over to where the bartender was serving a good measure of whisky to someone down the line. ‘Probably more than is good for my liver, too,’ he added, sounding rueful.

‘Ah,’ the man appeared to have noticed Charles’s gaze and leaned forward almost shyly. ‘Could I perhaps buy you a-’

‘Beat it, asshole,’ the poor man jumped as he was suddenly elbowed aside by Tony Stark, who pushed his way in next to Charles and unceremoniously plonked himself down on the seat next to him. ‘Hey, barkeep!’ he called out in an obnoxiously loud voice, causing all the talk in the room to falter for a moment. ‘Two whiskies for me and my buddy Charles, here,’ he slung his arm around Charles’s shoulders and pulled him close. ‘And keep them coming!’

‘Um,’ the man who had been talking to Charles said, but Tony was quick to interrupt him.

‘Thanks for keeping my seat warm, buddy,’ he said, reaching out to clap the man on the back. ‘I owe you one. See you around, okay?’

‘But-’

‘Adios, buster!’

‘I-’ the man seemed to falter in the face of Tony’s raised eyebrow. His shoulders slumping, he sighed and, with a reluctant nod, quickly walked away.

Tony allowed himself a grin of triumph before turning around, only to falter in the face of Charles’s unimpressed expression.

‘What?’ he demanded, sounding way more defiant than he’d actually intended.

Charles raised an eyebrow. It was an eyebrow that said _I know that you know exactly what you were doing but since both you know and I know how emotionally screwed-up you are, I will kindly refrain from talking about this_.

‘What happened with that girl over there?’ Charles asked instead, turning to receive his drink from the bartender. ‘I thought she was a sure thing.’

Tony shrugged, avoiding Charles’s gaze and instead focusing on the act of pulling his own glass towards him. ‘Yeah,’ he said simply, taking a long gulp of his whisky. ‘She probably was.’ He then deliberately downed the entire glass in one go before continuing on in a tone of supreme unconcern, ‘So of course it was absolutely _no_ fun whatsoever.’

There was a moment of silence.

‘Hmm,’ Charles said thoughtfully, licking a drop of whisky away from his lips. ‘So what you’re saying is that it’s no fun without the chase to make things harder.’

‘Yup,’ Tony nodded, deliberately gazing down at his empty whisky glass.

‘And that there’s no point going for it if it’s a sure thing,’ Charles continued.

‘That’s right.’

‘And that you would much rather go home with someone who you spent ages trying to convince to sleep with you rather than – say – someone who just automatically falls into your lap.’

‘Absolutely,’ Tony nodded.

There was a pause.

‘Want to go home and have sex?’ Charles asked.

‘ _Fuck_ yes!’ Tony shoved his glass aside, stumbled to his feet and seized Charles by the arm. ‘Your place or mine?’

‘Either,’ Charles laughed, gently tugging his arm out of Tony’s grip. ‘Both.’

Tony’s eyes narrowed as he considered his options.

‘Neutral ground?’ he offered after a second.

‘You mean a hotel room?’ Charles looked interested.

‘There’s a convenient one next door,’ Tony said winningly.

Charles laughed at that. ‘Convenient indeed.’ He then slid to his feet with an elegance that belied the amount of alcohol that he had consumed that evening. ‘Come on, then,’ he said, gesturing imperiously with his hand, ‘Lead me forth to your den of iniquity.’

Tony grinned. ‘With pleasure, my liege,’ he said, taking hold of Charles’s hand. He took a step away from the bar before suddenly pausing.

_Charles?_ He sounded strangely hesitant.

_Yes, love?_

_You know that I wouldn’t **really** have gone home with that girl, right?_

_Yes, love, I know._

_Good. And – that jackass that was sniffing around you. You wouldn’t have – I mean –_

_I wouldn’t have gone home with him either?_ Tony nodded. _I don’t know,_ Charles bit his lip, _He was planning on saying something about having a **very** interesting old book collection and you **know** that if there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s –_

_Yeah, yeah,_ Tony growled, glaring at him. _Hussy._

_Berk._

_Asshole._

_Stupid-face._

_Dic – Charles, seriously, “stupid-face”??_

Charles shrugged. _You have a stupid face,_ he said, as if in explanation.

_Ha!_ Tony scoffed. _You **love** my stupid face._

Charles smiled.

_Yeah,_ he said, his expression soft. _I do._

Tony glanced at him sharply. Then his own expression gentled unexpectedly and he smiled.

_Good,_ he said, pleased. He paused. _And – just for the record? I do, too._

Charles blinked at that, staring at him in surprise. _What?_

Tony smirked. ‘Love your stupid face, of course,’ he said out loud, before grabbing Charles’s arm in a firmer hold and towing him over to the door. ‘Now move that fine ass of yours, Xavier. We’ve got a hotel room with our names on it.’

Charles smiled and couldn’t find it in himself to protest.

He did, after all, have a _very_ fine ass.


End file.
